Robert Francis Needham ( 1901-1985 ) was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and graduated from Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1925 . He was a permanent member of the Sons of the American Revolution and served as Massachusetts State President from 1960 to 1961 . He served as a deacon of the First Parish Church in Concord (Unitarian) where he also served as treasurer and a collector for many years. He was on the Board of the Benevolent Fraternity of Unitarian Churches, and served from 1932 to 1944 as secretary and manager of the Ferry Beach Park Association . He was the co-author of A History of Universalists at Ferry Beach and author of Centennial History, Arlington Universalist Church .
Katherine Sutton ( 1888-1949 ) was born in New Canaan, Connecticut . She received a BS from Teachers College, Columbia University, in 1928, an MA from Columbia's Graduate School of Political Science in 1938, and a PhD from New York University in 1940 . She was part of the faculty of Danbury Teachers College, and served as part-time faculty at Columbia University and the University of Pennsylvania . She was named historian of the Ferry Beach Park Association and co-authored A History of Universalists at Ferry Beach ( 1948 ) with Robert F. Needham .
From the guide to the Needham, Robert Francis, 1901- and Katherine A. Sutton. Ferry Beach History Papers, 1940-1950., (Andover-Harvard Theological Library, Harvard Divinity School)
